At least 16 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack on a school in central Gaza that housed displaced Palestinians on Saturday, local officials said.
The Israeli military said the attack in Nuseirat was directed against militants who used buildings in the area of the Al-Jaouni school as “hiding places and operational infrastructure” to direct and carry out attacks on the Israeli forces.
It said it had taken steps to reduce the risk of civilians being harmed before Saturday’s attack. The attack came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late last month that the end of the “intense phase” of the war was “very close”.
However, the Palestinian Health Ministry stated that in addition to the fatalities, 50 people were also injured in the attack and accused the Israeli forces of committing a “massacre”.
The attack came as talks brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States to end the war in Gaza and release the approximately 120 hostages still held by Hamas in the enclave are set to resume next week.
Previous attempts to reach an agreement had stalled several times due to fundamental disputes between Israel and Hamas over key terms.
US officials have expressed cautious optimism about the latest talks. A senior official said earlier this week that Hamas had “adjusted its position quite significantly,” creating a “pretty big opening.” But the official warned that a deal would “not come within a matter of days.”
The United States and other mediators believe a hostage deal is the most realistic way to end the war and ease regional tensions, particularly the almost daily cross-border clashes between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah.
Israel said Hezbollah fired about 20 rockets at the Lower Galilee region on Sunday morning. Israeli medics reported that one man was taken to hospital with serious injuries from shrapnel.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack in which militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
However, the Palestinians are increasingly coming under international pressure due to their offensive. According to Palestinian authorities, more than 38,000 people were killed in the offensive and a humanitarian catastrophe arose in the coastal enclave.
Many schools in the Gaza Strip have been used as emergency shelters since the fighting began. According to the UN, this has displaced more than 1.7 million of the area’s 2.3 million residents. Many families have had to relocate several times due to the Israeli military’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Another Israeli attack last month on a former UN school in Nuseirat, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had sought shelter, killed at least 35 people and injured 74 others.
Israel said at the time that it had targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who were part of the Nukhba forces that led the October 7 attack.
